Federalsburg Town Hall closed until further notice

FEDERALSBURG - The Federalsburg Town Hall remains closed due to black mold as the Mayor, Council, and essential staff work on administering the business of the Town in temporary offices, according to Councilwoman Brandy James' comments at the Aug. 4, 2025, town meeting. The town office is temporarily located at Union United Methodist Church, 301 N. Main Street, until further notice.

The issue with the Town Hall is analogous to the issue with the town manager position. The newly named town manager, Sally Slook, was absent from the meeting. Mayor Kim Abner explained that soon after coming on board with the Town, Slook had a family emergency that required her to step away from handling the daily operational aspects of the town. James stated that moving forward, the Mayor and Council will liaise with each department to handle the daily operational areas, while Slook will work contractually on larger projects.

The challenge in hiring and keeping a town manager, according to James, is due to the “chaos and a mess” of the town operations, and that in her opinion, there is no reason to try to hire a manager when the foundation, figuratively and literally, is crumbling.

Town Hall remains closed
The Town announced on July 13 that black mold and potentially asbestos was discovered at the Town Hall located at 118 N Main Street. Remediation experts were brought in to assess the damage, and while no asbestos was found, it was discovered that the mold is the result of leakage from various areas of the building. The mold cannot be remediated until the root cause – the leaks throughout the exterior brick façade – are fixed. James commented that given the town’s current financial situation, the Mayor and Council need to be strategic about funding external and internal repairs. The move to temporary offices will help the staff to maintain the function of the town.

Several of the public in attendance noted that phone calls and voice messages to the town administration had gone unanswered. James said that she forwarded the town office phones to staff phones at the temporary town offices. There was a suggestion to post informational flyers on the Town Hall doors to help inform the public of the new location and how to reach town staff.

Policing in Federalsburg

The Mayor and Council and the Caroline County Sheriff's Office are working together on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will allow the Sheriff’s Office to provide policing in the town. The Sheriff's Office will absorb the Federalsburg Police Department, including the police department building and the current officers, who will be employees of Caroline County going forward. James said that preliminary figures show that this move could save the town more than half of the current approximate $1.3 million budgeted for the Federalsburg Police Department.

The Mayor and Council will sign the MOU for a year and host quarterly public meetings to make sure that the policing is satisfactory. According to Sheriff Donny Baker, Federalsburg would operate under a five officer model, costing approximately $780,000 per year, with an initial cost of approximately $85,000.  Administrative costs, vehicle costs, and legal costs would be borne through the Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Baker will be designated as the Town Police Chief through the town’s charter.

A public hearing on the proposed MOU will be held at a future date.

A bit of light at the end of the tunnel

The town’s water tower was lit with a messaging display in 2017, funded by the Friends of the Water Tower. According to Robbie Hayes of Pixelumenlab, the installer and operator of the system, the messaging has not been working since 2023 due to technical glitches, and those technical issues have not been addressed because the town had not paid the annual subscription to Pixelumenlab. Hayes announced that the past due balance is wiped clean, and he looks forward to working with the town to reestablish the connections to get the light system working again.

Councilman Ian Ferguson and Mayor Abner will work with Hayes to troubleshoot the technical glitches to work toward bringing the messaging back online. Mayor Abner notes that the funds that had been donated by the Friends of the Water Tower are still in the town’s account.